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Are you an entrepreneur?

by admin on June 24, 2009

I love entrepreneurs especially when they are self made!

Entrepreneurs are fabulous people, they reek of passion and clarity, and they are usually visionary and can easily see the big picture. Entrepreneurs also enjoy the company of like minded people; they like great people around them and most find it difficult to suffer fools.

Entrepreneurs are born optimists, they are confident, generally willing to help others and adopt a double win attitude.

This website is based on my real life experiences; there have been many turning points in my business career. The purpose of this blog is to assist you in determining your turning point and hopefully I can give you the inspiration and sanity to continue on your life dreams and goals, even when the chips are down. If I can help one single person avoid the stupid mistakes I made this blog has been worth while.

Never give up despite the setbacks, keep moving forward.
Are you a movie, music, television, or app fan? Buy them all with a $100 iTunes(R) gift card FREE, details apply.

"tough times don't last, tough people do."

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Passion, Vision and Business

by admin on April 30, 2012

Passion:

I spent many years in the HIiFi importing business. This was a business and an industry I was absolutely passionate about. High quality sound was something I had been seriously interested in since I was a kid.

The life long dream of owning my own business came way back in the 1980's when I secured the distributorship for Yamaha in New Zealand. I created a company by the name of Sound Group Holdings Ltd and it became very successful over the years. I had serious passion about this business and it was a fun industry. There were many people like me in those days who were just as passionate about what they were doing and there was lots of friendly rivalry between competitors.

In those days there were no Online Stores, the thought of such a thing never crossed any person's mind other than maybe Steve Jobs.

In New Zealand prior to 1987 there were some pretty dark days, there was import protection for local manufacturers of stereo equipment and there were a few importers who had inherited good businesses from their families. These companies were very strong and a new kid on the block like me had a tough time trying to carve a niche in the market place.

I believe it was this determination and passion that made Sound Group Holdings successful in those early days. Today when I look back there were no cell phones, no Ipads, no internet and a lot of interest in high quality sound.Most of the people world wide at this time in this line of business genuinely had passion and loved this business. Over the later years what I refer to as "The greed factor" stepped in. A lot of good people left the industry and in the USA some big companies were taken over by these business people who had zero passion about the business, the only important factor to them was money.

In New Zealand the same thing applies to a degree and a lot of the pioneering people from the 1980's have gone. The internet and the gadget industry has eaten into the disposable dollar and the Hifi business world wide has become very tough.

In my view it's survival requires passion and vision. People need to be creative as the internet has arrived and made it very easy for people to buy gear at great prices and do the research on products before they make their purchases.

Vision

Vision in business is something that is very rare, a lot of people have passion but vision is the key to success. In my case I know I was a visionary, I saw what was going on in the Hifi industry and I chose to leave well before Sound Group Holdings Ltd was at it's peak. The greed factor was starting to set in and over the last few years my decision has paid off. Although maybe a little premature I see the industry now in a completely different light. Is is entirely price driven in New Zealand as indeed it probably is else where. Most retailers employ passionate people who love the business but very few know how to sell. Product training is very well taken care of by the importers and manufactures but very little sales training takes place. I know many businesses making foolish decisions by the top people and it is costing them dearly. I believe the reason is lack of vision. Generally speaking they cannot see the future, they are not capable of looking at where their business could be in the next five years or so.

The internet HAS to be the integral ingredient for any business now and if they do not embrace it it will be at their own peril. The internet is a vehicle to be used in many ways, service, retail, advertising, being found and the list rolls on.

Business

There is no doubt business now is totally different that it was, it requires Passion, Vision, creativity and skill to succeed. Nothing is more true in the consumer electronics industry. One only needs to look at where it has come from over the years and where it is heading. If you are interested in buying audio Products online at great prices just take a look at Audio Products International. Created with Vision.

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Car Dealers Auckland

by admin on March 7, 2012

Workplace Bullies

I have just been watching the program "Fair Go" on TV1 in New Zealand.

There was a clip of an Auckland Car dealer giving grief to customers. This is just another example of "how not to do business". It appears this dealer is a bully and has been in the small claims court numerous times.

The Television presenter had a hidden camera in the dealers office and this guy was bragging how he had been in business for thirty two years and looked after his customers. He admitted he had a temper and needed to curve his approach to people. In other words YES, here is another bully in business. What is the problem with these people? Why do they go into business in the first place? These are questions I ask myself every day as the examples are everywhere.

Passion drives business, believe me, if you are thinking of starting a business make certain you have the drive and passion for whatever you want to do. If you need or want a business partner make dam certain that partner has the passion for that business too.

If not I can assure you grief will be the outcome.

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Would you like to blog? Here are some strategies

by admin on February 27, 2012

Where do you begin when you want to start blogging and how can you create a blog that accomplishes your goal? The possibilities are limitless, as is the potential. The tips in this article can help you to make the important choices and create the blog that gets your message across to the audience that it is intended to reach.

Keyword Research: When blogging, you have to know what people are searching for in a particular niche. What keywords are they typing in? With these things in mind, perform keyword research and put the relevant keywords in your blog. This will make your site highly visible in the search engines for the top performing keywords, and this results in you getting a big boost in traffic.

Whenever possible, utilize header tags in order to separate particular sections of your blog posts. All the different tags that you should use are H1, H2, and H3 tags. In addition, you should ensure that you are using excellent search engine keywords whenever you can in all these different headers.

Make your blog valuable. You want your readers to gain something from your blog because this will keep them coming back. If they gained nothing after reading one of your articles, there will be no reason for them to visit again. Spend some time to develop content that will keeping people coming back for more.

Avoid losing control of your blog by getting your own domain name and your own hosting account. Whenever you use free hosting, you will have trouble getting good search engine rankings, and you will have to abide by the rules of the host. If you have your own domain name and your own hosting account, you will have a lot more freedom in regards to the content you can post, and you won't run the risk that your information will all disappear if the host goes under!

If you are confident in your writing skills, spend some time writing an e-book. This will give you something to sell that will be useful to all of your readers, as well as bring you a little extra money coming in. Make sure that you have the e-book easy to find on your site.

When opening a blog to make money, it's crucial that you make a decision on what you want its mission to be. Your posts need to focus around a certain theme. If you just simply write anything that comes to mind, then you will be limited in how many visitors you have because you won't be attracting any specific set of people. Therefore, you should make sure that you stay on your topic.

Make a publishing filter. Be controlled and consistent with your blog posts. Try to make a publishing filter for use each time you write. It could be as simple as writing down some questions that your post can answer by the time it's finished. It can help keep you focused.

It has already been noted that beginning a blog can be overwhelming because there are so many choices and decisions. There is so much potential and so many possibilities available to you. The tips and techniques in this article can help you create a blog that suits your needs and reaches your intended audience.

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Slack customers or slack customer service

by admin on February 20, 2012

"Business in New Zealand"
I read in the paper this morning how a motel owner in a small town in New Zealand (Katikati) got upset when someone wrote a bad review about him and his motel on "Tripadvisor.com".
The article made me wonder about a number of things:
Who is correct here? Did the motel owner have a reason to question this review? First of all we are speaking of a customer, a person who provides income to any business. We all know the story, "The customer is always right". It is possible this customer was wrong in what he wrote however from reading the New Zealand Herald article I have to question it. First of all it appears the price for the room was more than advertised and the price quoted seemed crazy to me in such an area of New Zealand.

However regardless of who is to blame here the motel is still a business. It is vital any business owner understands how to treat people correctly. Yes there are very difficult customers out there, some are very hard to handle however there are courses available to business owners on "how to handle difficult customers" "how to control anger" etc.
My advice would be for the motel owner to have a very close look at the way he conducts his business, about how he relates to his customers and above all "What value" if any is he providing to his customers.
From personal experience I find the average motel price in New Zealand has risen dramatically over the last few years and the "value for money" has gone down.
There are some VERY basic motels in some of these places and there appears to be a lot an owner could do very easily to enhance the average place.
We are constantly reminded in the media daily how bad the economy is, how tough business is and yet what are business owners doing about it? too many are bleating and complaining rather than getting on and doing something positive about it.

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Self Esteem in the workplace

by admin on February 19, 2012

Poor self esteem is rampant in today's society, and the effects of that quality is carried over into the work place. Imagine, then, the effect on your business if self esteem can be improved. Performance will approve on all fronts in people with a healthy sense of self worth. In addition, there will most likely be fewer interpersonal conflicts among workers if their self esteem was at least healthy and not poor. There is quite a bit a business owner can do to help improve this situation. Making use of the following tips can help you improve the self esteem in your work place.

It is important that your employees feel that upper management and you are accessible. Not only accessible, but that you are willing to listen to what they have to say. You will help your employees in many ways by establishing an open door policy and letting them know they can talk to you. Doing this lets your workers know that what they think and say has value to you. Knowing that someone relatively important is willing to listen is important to a person's self esteem.

Another powerful interpersonal skill that has a direct bearing on a person's self esteem concerns acceptance by others. To be rejected by someone is a feeling that everyone has felt at some point in their life. Acceptance of differences and faults is key as the leader of your company. You do need to make sure your business runs, so not all faults can be overlooked. Showing that these faults can be worked on within a positive atmosphere is key.

It is important, if your goal is to improve self esteem of those around you, to make sure your behavior can't be construed as condescending. Also, make sure you don't give the impression of talking down to anyone. To help your employees also avoid this emotionally harmful behavior, you should implement policies that instruct people how to avoid this behavior. Be sure that you are also able to reinforce people on the same level of emotion. You may initially think that it is difficult to achieve an increase in self esteem among your employees. While it's not really all that hard, it will take some time. However, there are very many ways to bring about this sea of change in the attitudes of your work force. Give serious consideration to the benefits to making this investment in your business.

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Buying online

by admin on February 16, 2012

Buying electronics on the internet gives you a opportunity to get it before anyone else. Discovering new items as they come out would devote some quantity of time in driving around to different shops, as well as the price of traveling. It is much simpler and less traumatic to store right from your desktop computer.

Taking a opportunity to have a look at out different internet websites provides you with a opportunity to evaluate items and costs. Instead of a bit of your energy and effort going to several shops to have a look at, you can spend shorter time looking at quite a number of internet websites. Not spend will also help you to get it before anyone else. And, surfing around websites provides you with many great presents.

Find New Products and Get It Before Anyone Else

Finding new items is simpler on the internet because you can have a look at internet websites as often as you want, every day or more, and it just takes a few minutes. Search for the websites that interest you the most and they will just be a click away.

Some internet websites provide free on purchases of a certain quantity. This would save the price of delivery or energy if you had to drive to a store to buy it. If you discover a unique products on a website, you could order instantly and get it before anyone else.

Shop Around Online

Most internet websites have on the internet online where you can look for the different items they provide on the site. This gives you a opportunity to review many items that often is not available in suppliers. You can look for by topic or type in a search term for a specific products that you want.

Finding the smallest costs and best deals is easy. It is so practical to take benefits of their information and feedback. Some websites feature customers' messages and feedback. You can have a look at out an item or service before you buy and decide if you want to get it before anyone else.

Many internet websites allow you to sign-up a wish list. This way you can keep track of what you are watching for on a certain page. Also, some websites let you put in needs for an item or service or topic you are interested discovering.

Take benefits of today's technology and use the internet. There are many reasons to store on the Web. The advantage and the quantity of wide range provide you a big leap on other customers. Start surfing around for devices now and get it before anyone else!

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Who is to blame?

by admin on February 11, 2012

This is a question all business owners need to look closely at.

If you happen to be an importer of high quality goods, or a retailer of great products it is natural you want to hold onto the agencies and products you have.

You also want to build and retain relationships with your suppliers. If the day comes when one of your suppliers drop you for some reason you need to understand why. From my experience long term business relationships are worth retaining. If you work together with your supplier on a double win basis things can only get better.

I am aware of companies who have had long standing relationships with suppliers and all of a sudden they have gone and good business has been lost. Who is to blame? Who is responsible? It is very easy to lay blame on either the supplier themselves or your staff. The fact of the matter is it starts at the top. If you have a passion for your business which in fact you should there is no excuse for losing a great agency or supplier.

Ego and Business

I have seen so many businesses totally ruined because of ego, mismanagement and plain stupidity. Too many assumptions are made and of course untold speculation for a disaster like this happening.

In one case I am aware of an agency lost by an importer simply because the business owner bragged to his supplier about how he got a fantastic deal buying out his partner. The partner was shafted and the supplier knew it. This resulted in termination of the agency. Who was to blame?

I wonder if you have ever read the book "Stupid White Men"? The world is full of them.

Just what is business?

Quite frankly I see it simply as a vehicle, a vehicle if driven properly by a passionate manager it can make an awful lot of people happy. If driven by power and greed it can make a lot of people unhappy. It is a crying shame but I think there are too many of the latter around. If you are a business owner take stock of yourself. Who is to blame in business? The business owner?

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From Connected NZ Retail news 6 Feb 2012

by admin on February 7, 2012

Another electronics outfit who have not moved with the times. When will the conumer electronics industry wake up?

The industry has been failing for years the same way Hollywood and the music business. It is time the people at the top looked at themselves and worked out a strategy to save this exciting industry from ruin. Maybe it is time for the passionate people to stay and the others leave and go start selling concrete or coffee where all they have to do is worry about margin and nothing else!

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